Homeschooling Katie

I cannot believe that it is almost September! Where did the summer go?? I have one month to kick into high-gear making preparations to begin Katie's K-3 homeschooling plans.

Last year was our first year to "homeschool" Katie. I use the term loosely, because regardless of how you do it, each stay-at-home mom homeschools. Though I am not required by law to keep records for Katie at this point, I have chosen to take full advantage of Katie's "sponge-like" brain, and teach her all that I can! Though it was tough to keep a routine with Katie last year (due to Austin's birth, mostly), we still managed to master many skills and introduce many more. I am so proud of her accomplishments!



A few of the things that I saw Katie improve in or master this past year included:

• finding a love to read...even when she doesn't know the story, she will make one to go alone with the stories now. The library is one of her favorite places!
• learning to sing and say her ABC's, and recognizes some of them
• mastering all of her colors and shapes
• counting 1-25, counting objects 1-15
• learning to trace lines with crayons
• memorizing several scriptures, that we use daily
• learning too many songs to count! (she LOVES to sing!)
• prays short meal time and longer bedtime prayers (SO sweet to hear)
• increasing her vocabulary exponentially!!
• knowing her "manners" words and using them correctly
• helping with daily routines and chores

Those are just a few things we worked on last year, but it amazes me to see how much she learned in that short time. I am looking forward to this year of teaching Katie. We will be working mainly on recognizing her alphabet and numbers, and learning to write them. I will be using the Bible stories, crafts, and activities from Hands On Homeschooling (age 3), and the letters and numbers through Abeka's age 3 curriculum. The rest will be hands on activities, etc., that will be found from various resources :) Have I mentioned that I am SO excited??? I just can't get over how much she learns, just be watching and listening to me! What a responsibility I have as a Mom! It is such an honor to be able to teach our children in the Lord. Please pray that God will use me in their lives, despite my many short-comings.

Coprophilia

Coprophilia - the love of feces (or...in our words...poop)

We have a coprophiliac in our family apparently...and no, it isn't me (eww!!).

Austin showed his new love proudly today.

He first ate

(then gagged and vomitted)

our dog's poop.

Yummy, huh?

A lovely mess

for Mommy to clean up,

might I add.

(But I'm too sweet and concerned about getting him cleaned up to worry about taking pictures of the fiasco...just in case you were wondering about the proof.)

But our coprophiliac

didn't have enough.

While he was sleeping...

He decided to "de-diaper" himself,

POOP,

and

paint a masterpiece...

ALL OVER EVERYTHING

for Mommy to see

and clean.

(I knew no one would believe this without proof! So, here you go...and please know that it was much worse than the picture captured. I didn't take time to get "good" pictures...I was too busy trying to decide how best to tackle this masterpiece.)

This was over the top for me today...I was sick of poop! And I had to force myself to laugh through the cleaning, to keep me from crying. But after much washing, scrubbing, and sanitizing, Austin did finally get to take his afternoon nap. Hopefully our coprophiliac has had his fill of POOP for a his lifetime!!!

Wordless Wednesday

WIDE OPEN!

I know I have been M.I.A. (missing in action) lately as far as updating on our family life. So, here is my "catch up" post for you! You're welcome :)

As I stated in my birthday post earlier, I have come to the realization that I am not Super Mom...by any stretch of the imagination. So, dispite my great intentions to blog consistently, I find myself daily struggling to decide how to best juggle balance my day with keeping a spotlessly clean non-hazardous house, planning throwing together quick family meals, teaching Katie, harnessing Austin and all the endless energy that comes with those two, getting a daily shower (yes, even that is iffy many days), plus all of the "outside of our home" activities. And, for the record, I'm not good at juggling...or multi-tasking...or even pretending that I am. My life is WIDE OPEN right now. And, though I often wish the cleaning fairies would drop by my house...that dinner would plan and make itself...that Katie would discipline herself...or that Austin would control his urge to eat the inedible, I wouldn't take my life right now, my job as a mommy to my two precious children for anything! Life is WIDE OPEN!

I've also been doing a lot of photography for friends and friends of friends lately, which has been great!! I am saving to get a new prime f-1.4 lens for my camera. If you recall, I rented it several weeks back, and I'm still crying that I couldn't keep it. Okay, so I'm not crying literally, but I do miss it tremendously! I keep thinking of all of the things that I could do if I had it. Now, I'm reteaching myself patience and discipline in the saving department. Our budget isn't overflowing with "extra"...okay, it isn't even dripping with extra...so, my camera money comes from extra money that I get or make somehow in addition to our monthly income. It's a slow process, but I'm sure that I will enjoy my lens that much more when I do get it. Life is WIDE OPEN.

The kids have been doing good. They are both growing like little weeds! Austin is less than a month away from celebrating his first birthday. That doesn't even seem possible to me...how about you? He finally has one (bottom) tooth in and one cutting through. He eats like he has a mouth full of teeth! He loves table food cut into small pieces...he will tackle anyone for a real banana or strawberry! :) And he's doing well taking his first tastes of whole milk. He is weaning from me, which is somewhat sad to think about at times, but exciting, too. He loves to clap now...his newest talent. He is also making up his own version of baby sign language. He recognizes several signs (milk, more, eat, all done), but he gets so excited sometimes, he mixes them all and you have no idea what he's doing. It's hilarious for us to watch. And, have I mentioned that he is a walking pro?? He can turn quickly and accurately, and he's even trying his hand at running. His newest game is having someone chase him. He gets so excited! This is one thing that will get him laughing every time!! And Katie...boy! how she's grown!! I think her hair has grown inches overnight. I washed her hair last night, and the back of her hair was actually touching her back. She is very much into her pretending right now. She even had Daddy dressed up as a cook with jewelry on a few days ago. She will use anything she can find to pretend with. It amazes me how creative she gets sometimes. She's very excited about "starting school" in a few weeks. We've taken the summer off for the most part...only doing a few "school" activities...so she can't wait to get into her new school workbooks and activities. It is so hard for me to believe she is about to turn 3! She learning to pray for people and things, and it is so sweet to hear her sincere prayers at such a young age. Even on the hardest, most tiring nights, hearing her prayers make it all worthwhile. Life is WIDE OPEN.

Well, I feel like I still have tons to update you on, but I have many things to do before I sleep. So...I can summarize it all right now like this...

Life is WIDE OPEN! :)

27 years

After 27 years, I've...

...grown to appreciate the childhood I had.

...realized that after years of school, I still have so much to learn.

...been blessed indescribably with such wonderful family and friends.

...learned what true, God-sent love is.

...been out of our country, and learned to be even more thankful for the USA.

...promised never to take the special love from my husband for granted...even for a second.

...seen how much a child can change your life.

...experienced my heart growing more than imaginable with each child God has blessed us with.

...accepted that life isn't always what we think it should be...and learned that we serve a great God who has a perfect plan for us, even when we can't see it.

...determined to live each day as if it were the last day God gave me.

...come to accept that I am not and will never be "Super Mom", but with God's help will do my best to balance cooking, cleaning, teaching, and playing each and every day God gives me.

...been amazed at how much more deeply I fall in love with the love of my life each and every day. I am so thankful for the love story God wrote for me and Mark.

...been blessed beyong measure to be celebrating 27 years of life.

...almost burned the house down with all of my 27 candles! :)

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Can you guess who knocked down and broke my living room lamp this morning???

"Not me!" Monday

Okay, so we're changing things up this week!

Instead of the regular "not me" Monday, you get "not my child" Monday.

So...here goes nothing! (Sorry about the lack of pictures...I'm exhausted and crazy busy from our trip!)

Austin did not thoroughly enjoy getting blasted in the face with hard water spouts at the local splash pad, dispite my many attempts to keep him in the more "baby friendly" sprinklers. Not my child!

Katie definitely did not pull a "Marilyn Monroe" with those hard water spouts at the splash pad...repeatedly...while I sat back, took pictures, laughed, and laughed some more. Definitely not my child!

The kids did not enjoy their new Home Depot tool set/workbench from Mimi, that they both decided to test their skills on Aunt Megan! Katie did not realize that needle-nosed pliers work great for pulling long hair (ouch!), and Austin did not make every attempt to crack a head with the hammer. Sorry, Aunt Megan!! My children would never do that!

Katie did not see her first Karate/Jujitsu preformance [Aunt Megan and Mimi both graduated up in belt rank this past weekend]. And, as she watched, her favorite part was definitely not grappling. While watching, she did not laugh histerically each time someone would get thrown to the mat (only after she was sure they were okay). Not my child...

Katie did not then decide to grapple Austin when we got home! [She knows she can't grapple anyone without their (and my) permission now]. And she definitely isn't so cute while she tries to grapple and work on her karate spin kicks.

While away from home, Austin has not cut out a milk feeding and added a lot of extra food! One night, he did not drink 6 oz milk, two jars of baby food, oatmeal, a small bowl of mashed potatoes, a big spoon full of macaroni and cheese, who knows how many puffs, and half of my cup of homemade icecream. And, after all of that, was not still begging for food! My child would not eat like this...especially daily!

Katie did not get upset with me when we had the following conversation...

Guess who comes home today?

Who?

Daddy does!

Is he still in Cawiforna?

No, he's flying to Texas right now.

*Starts to cry* But I don't want him to go to Texas! I want him to come home!!

I don't blame her for being upset...I'm ready for Daddy to be home, too! It was not the sweetest conversation, though. Thankfully, Daddy did make it home from Texas, so she isn't so mad anymore... :)

Okay...now it's YOUR turn! Hop over to McMama's to read all the other "Not Me! Monday" posts or to find out how to join in :)

Nice. Cool. Refreshing.

Feeling the heat of the summer sun?

This will cool you off!

Nice. [water-logged diaper and all]

Cool.

Refreshing.

Fun. [Marilyn Monroe, H2O-style]

Feeling refreshed yet?

Just a few pictures of the fun had by all while with my family this week. The kids enjoyed the local splash pad so much that we worked it out to go twice while here...and they would have gone even more had we found the time! I naively assumed Austin would stay near the softer sprinklers when I let him go...oh, no! He wanted to be right in the middle of the largest, hardest knock-you-down sprinklers every time. He was tough, and he wanted to show it! And, Katie...she often looked like she was about to cry because of the water getting in her eyes, but she only cried when we had to leave. They had a blast, and so did I!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Okay...so this isn't a totally wordless Wednesday...

We're enjoying our family time here, even with Austin's ear infection, which seems to be lingering around. This trip we packed the wagon for the kids to enjoy, and enjoy they have! They love their daily walks down to the lake to look for the ducks and watch the bull frogs croak and jump as we near, and I love the view!

I snapped a couple of pictures while Mimi and Papa Ricky were walking with the kids...I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoy our walks!

Not Me! Monday

It's that time again! Time to tell all of those good and maybe not-so-good things from the past week.

Austin did not have his first sick visit this week, confirming that he indeed had an ear infection. And, at that ear infection, I did not actually breathe a great sigh of relief when I was told about his ear infection.

I was not, in a strange way, happy with the diagnosis [because a) I knew something was wrong, and was hoping it wasn't just his change in personality; b) Since I knew something was wrong, if it wasn't an ear infection, it would have likely been some virus that would have to run it's course; c) If it were a virus, we wouldn't be able to stay with my family as planned, so as not to possibly infect my stepdad who has a challenged immune system right now (he's fighting the luekemia battle); d) If it weren't an ear infection, it would be contagious to everyone else; e) Ear infections get better pretty quickly with the medicines]. See, I did have good reasons for being thankful for an ear infection!

I am not enjoying some much needed time with my family this week while Mark is in California on a business trip. But, I do not miss him tremendously! Like having cookies without milk...peanut butter without jelly...well, you get the picture!

The kids are not getting lots of spoiling time with their grandparents and great grandparents!

Austin did not make his first successful attempt to stand up by himself with no aid of any kind (he was in the middle of an empty floor)!

I was not going to post some cute pictures of the kids on this post, only to realize that I did not leave my camera cord at home. *updated* BUT...Mimi saved the day with her camera cord!

I do not have two of the cutest new construction workers here...

We're not enjoying a full week of family! So expect lots of fun pictures of our adventures when I return next week :D For now...going to enjoy our family time!

Wordless Wednesday

Not Me! Monday

The "Not Me! Monday" graphic did not go through rennovation that I think is great. Don't you?

I definitely did not somehow get so far behind on laundry that it became almost mountainous!

This week, I did not have many laughs while watching Katie and her imagination! She did not use Austin's pack-n-play a rocket to blast off to the beach...

And she did not set up her own "school" to teach them songs and Bible verses that she knew. She did not have one not-so-cooperative student in her class...can you find him??

I did not take hundreds of snapshots of the kids this week before I had to send my rented lens back. And I do not miss it terribly already! I'm not going to have to save quick for this wish list item!!

Austin is not still trying to cut those two bottom teeth. Poor thing is soooo cranky because of it!

We did not enjoy a very busy, but fun-filled holiday with our family and friends. And I am not going to make you wait longer to see the evidence (aka pictures) of all of our fun.

Our fun did not end with a big BANG that we all enjoyed for 20 minutes!!

I'm not going to have to leave the rest of our updates and "not me's" for a later day because I have many things I need to be doing...

so...

Go on over to http://www.mycharmingkids.net/ to see what all of the other "not me! monday" posts are for this week or find out how to join in on the fun!

Sweet Smell of Pine Sol

A word of encouragement that I received and wanted to share...

Sweet Smell of Pine Sol
T. Suzanne Eller

“… I also remember a young mom who worried that her house wasn't spotless when an unexpected guest showed up. I remember the angst of trying to do everything and the fatigue when my day ended before my chores did.

…They reminisce about what we did together. They don't reminisce about the smell of PineSol. Whether my house was perfect or how it compared to others' isn't even on their radar. It makes me wonder why I worried about it. Is it good to have order and structure? Sure. But don't allow the pressure to be the perfect mom keep you from the beauty of simply playing with your children. The unmade bed will still be there, but I promise that a child will grow quickly and leave the nest.

Take a moment today and look past the clutter and the to-do list and play like a child again. It might not be a picture-perfect moment, but it will be a memory.” – excerpt from T. Suzanne Eller’s “Sweet Smell of Pine Sol” from Proverbs 31 Ministries


Heavenly Father, Help me to remember the greatness of my job that you have chosen to bless me with...the job of training up our children...teaching them your ways and your words. Life gets busy, the house stays imperfect, and I often find myself spending my time frustrated at that imperfection. Please help me to realize that the perfection of my house is not my most important job right now. Slow me down, and help me to enjoy this short time that you have given me to have with our children, as they will soon be grown. Thank you for the precious memories you give me with my wonderful husband and precious children. Please remind me not to take them for granted.

Rewind: Hot Air Balloon Festival

I realized that I failed to post the fun that we had at the local Hot Air Balloon Festival last month...so today, we're rewinding...

One of many balloons flying in for the festival fun!

From the moment we arrived, the kids were amazed watching the balloons fly in!

Our happy family in front of one of the fire engines there...

Austin spent the entire 3 hours sitting in the wagon with no complaints! He had so much fun watching all of the balloons, music, and people. And we didn't mind getting a break from carrying him all night :)

Katie enjoyed her wagon time a little...then she was ready to get out and run :)

A quick "cheese" from Mommy and Katie

Austin watching the balloons begin to glow...

Daddy and Katie showing off their "golden tickets" that allowed them to take a ride in one of the hot air balloons! They gave out very few tickets at each balloon, so it was exciting for them to get their tickets!

Katie's reaction when the balloon first went up...it was LOUD!!

She still wanted to take her ride, though :)

Katie and Daddy taking their ride! She said she was a little scared with the loud noise, but she liked it and would do it again. She was such a big girl!!

It was a very hot afternoon/evening, but the kids had a blast! We have enjoyed making this festival an annual event for our family and are looking forward to next year.

Wordless Wednesday